“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”

The story is about Harry ( played to perfection by John Skelley) and his wife, Ginny ( deftly handled by Trish Lindstrom) are sending their son, Albus ( adorably played by Emmett Smith) off to  his first year at Hogwarts. This is the magical school where Harry is the head of Magical Law Enforcement and Ginny is the editor of the newspaper. Ron Weasly ( (Matt Mueller) and Hermoine (Ebony Blake) also send their daughter Rose ( (Naiya Vanessa-McCalla is adorable in this role) is off to the school as well. Both of these characters are also alumni and part of the staff. During their train rise, Albus befriends Scorpius ( a terrific character role handled to perfection by Aidan Close). It turns out that he is the son of Harry’s arch enemy Draco (Benjamin Thys ).

Albus and Scorpius  become close friends and the more they are bullied by the other students, the closer they become to each other. The story gets a little more complicated here as we see that the relationship with Harry and his son begins to become tedious. There is an actual line where harry says he wishes that Albus was not his son. At that point Albus pours a love potion on a babay blanket that as it turns out was Harry’s baby blanket.

There are several family stories involved and while I was unfamiliar with the characters, I was able to grasp the story of the love of the family and the ability to overcome the past in order to reach the future. There were some superb performances in this play. One of Chicago’s finest actors, Larry Yando brings several  characters to this production and as always, watching him on the stage is like an education for young actors. Mackenzie Lesser-Roy is a wonderful Moaning Myrtle making her scene one that will make you laugh and think.

I must tell you that the direction (John Tiffany) is magnificent and the magical effects and illusions are creative and masterful. We see people flying about, disappearing into the air and floor, shooting out of the wall and furniture flying about- wow!!!

If you have read the books and /or seen the films, you will catch on a lot faster than this old guy did, but with the creativity of the production and the solid performances, no matter what, you will have a great time and probably want to go back for more. As I said at the very start, I was very limited in my knowledge, and I was able to follow the story and see who each character was and how they related to the others. The story evolves easily and I am going back for sure!

“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” will continue thru February 1st with performances as follows:

The Nederlander Theatre is located at 24 West Randolph Street

Chicago

For tickets, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com